כוכבי הצפון מודים לעסקים הבאים שתמיכתם עזרה לפעילות הקבוצה:
ארנולדס - מסעדת שף
גלילית כשרה
נתיב השיירה
האתר הרשמי של קבוצת הפוטבול
כ ו כ ב י ה צ פ ו ן
פוטבול כוכבי הצפוןִ© כל הזכויות שמורות
JS - You were trounced again by Haifa in your pre-season game, 57-6. They beat you 64- 12 in your final game of last season. Are you seeing signs of improvement from your team this season? How so?
RZ - Even though we were "trounced" by Haifa in the pre-season, yet again, I do see signs of improvement in our team this season. Most notably is the chemistry; we got rid of some players who had a bad influence and were a distraction to our team. I also think that our defense is much improved, and is flourishing under their new and simple scheme. Yes, they allowed 57 points to Haifa, but they spent a lot of time on the gridiron that evening, because our offense couldn't keep their drives going.
JS - Eyal Basil was the only back who could move the ball for you against the always tough Haifa defense. Six carries for 20 yards. He had a couple solid punts too. He's a big kid, listed at 100 kg on the league roster. Tell me a little about Eyal. Is he your number one RB? If not, who can we expect to carry the load for the Northern Stars?
RZ - Eyal Basil (#36) had a nice ground game against Haifa, but "the bus" is our #3 RB. He was called into action because our starting RB, Mauro Zimmerman, was injured a couple of days before the game and his backup, veteran Erez "Chicko" Baharav, was on vacation. We expect Basil to handle the short yardage situations during the season, and to provide a powerful ground game when needed. He was also rushed into punting in the game as our first three punters weren’t at the game – he did a good job there, so we are thinking of keeping him at this position too.
JS - Yakov Friedman had serious trouble against the Underdogs: zero completions in 8 attempts, sacked twice for safeties. Oren Kiniaz showed some promise with four completions in 7 attempts for 37 yards. You were 0/1 with a pick six to veteran Niv Medlinger. Have you decided on your starting QB to begin this season, and if so, who is it?
RZ - Since our 1st season, we've had trouble with our offensive line. This preseason was the worst situation we encountered yet. Our starting Center was out with an injury and was replaced by Shai Farkash, who snapped in a few games last season, but missed a lot of practices before this season. Our two guards in this game were rookies with 7 practices combined. Yaakov Friedman is a pure pocket passer and due to our makeshift line, was under duress the entire first half. Dealing with an injury himself, Friedman wasn’t able to do much in the first half. Oren Kniaz, our dynamic rookie, had a better chance to bring some life back to our passing game, and his 4 completions of 7 attempts did just that. My attempt for a RB pass ended with a pick six, not my proudest moment, but that’s why we have pre-season games, to try some plays and to shake some rust off. We see Yaakov as our starting QB coming into this season, because we want to keep Kniaz at his most dangerous position – WR.
Jon Sharon - former Sabres coach, interviews Stars coach Roey Ziv after the preseason loss to the Underdogs.
JS - Shai Rotbaum had another solid game on defense for you guys. 8 tackles, 3 sacks and a forced fumble. Do you expect another All-IFL season for Shai? Does he have any help on defense? Who are your other players to watch on the defensive side of the ball?
RZ - Shai Rotbaum is an All-IFL and a national team linebacker and we expect this season for nothing less out of him. His combination of size, strength and speed will cause a lot of headaches for offenses and ball carriers this season. Shai is just one out of 9 defenders in our new "gang green" defense that seems to be clicking together and energizing each other. The ever dangerous, Dotan Ben David, our MLB, will be the defensive "QB" and will lead our defensive efforts. We have a number of rookies in starting positions in our defense this season, but we are confidant in them and believe our safety, Amit Alkobi, can help out when needed -- he is everywhere on the field in practices.
JS - You were 1-9 last season after winning your opener against the expansion Silverbacks. You've got the Silverbacks again in your opener this season. How did the team handle losing 9 straight last season? How do you keep players committed and enthused when wins are so hard to come by?
RZ - We got our first and only win last season in the opener against the Silverbacks, and it was too close in my opinion. This season we've got the Silverbacks again in the opener which gives us a good chance to come up with a win, but it will not be so easy, as they are not the team they were a year ago. I hope we can execute and come out of the game with our second straight season opening win. The rest of the way will not be so easy, and will require us to be mentally tough – again. The idea I had when establishing this team was "making football fun again", meaning having the practices in a fun atmosphere, because after all, this is not a professional team and players come to practice on their own free time. This doesn’t mean everyone is doing what they want and there is no order in the team, it was a matter of finding the right combination of things in order to manage this and find the point that makes everyone enjoy practices and games. And there are great friendships that were made on this team. I believe that this is why players keep coming back year after year, game after game.
JS - The top teams in the IFL seem to be the ones who can recruit American players. Haifa's got Fearnley and Kauffman. Do you guys have any chance at recruiting foreign players? The league set a limit of 8 foreign players per roster this season and it's only 9-man football. Is this too high a number, and how do you expect to compete?
RZ - Foreign players are hard to come by in the Galil area. Most of the teams in the IFL, or at least most of the top ones, seem to be able to find Americans or foreign players with experience everywhere. In my opinion, this is not the recipe for equal ground (there is no "fair" in sports so I will avoid using it). Until now, we haven't been so lucky to find a pool of foreigners. In our first season, we had a huge American guy who lived in Maalot and started practicing with us, but left because of work. Last season a guy from the kibbutz we were practicing in, who was from Miami, came to practice with us a few times, but he was in the army – he is released now, but moved to Jerusalem and plays for the Rebels. We also have a guy from Qiryat Shmona who wants to come and play with us, but has no way to come to practices. Having said that, remember that our starting QB is from Chicago and two others are from Canada and Colombia, so not all hope is lost. I agree with the idea of limitation that the league set. I even think we should decrease the number of foreigners, not because we don't have as much, but because ever since the first days we thought of creating this league, we said that it's important to keep it "Israeli", and limiting the number of foreigners, is the only way to do so.
JS - There's more to a franchise than what goes on the field. What good things do the Northern Stars have going on up north? Who is your sponsor this season? Are you happy with your progress towards long term goals for the franchise?
RZ - This season, we have yet to find an official sponsor. The team is half self- sustained and half is donated, mostly by our GM, Michael Bavly, but also by others. We are looking for anyone who can help in this area or others. The team is progressing nicely forward, the addition of an offensive coordinator, Oshry Cohen, and quality control assistant, Boris Ivinder, both ex-players, contributed a lot to our preparation towards this coming season and I feel confident in our team moving up in the goals we set for ourselves. One of the virtues of our team, our point of strength, is the friendships that were made on this team. Players really bonded and spend a lot of time with each other after practices. Because of that, I'm sure that we are ready to handle everything the season holds for us.